We have been in Thailand for three weeks now and have completed an extraordinary number of things. First off Richard (Gramps) arrived from California, he left us back in the beginning of August when we were still in Guam. Richard spent three months in the states visiting family and friends and getting a few things sorted out such as his retirement visa for Thailand. It's good to have him back, the kids really missed him.
Not having transportation was really eating at me. I cannot remember a time since I owned my first car that I did not have one. About a week into our stay I went motorbike (scooter) shopping. Ayden and I went to a local Honda dealer one morning and we picked up a new Yellow motorbike. Yellow just happens to be my favorite color and they had exactly what I was looking for. We picked up a Honda 125i Click, I chose this model because it has a foot platform so the smaller children could stand in front. It's a lot of fun, Jeremiah and Sofia love riding on it, and I love being able to get around town easily and being able to explore our new city. I was pretty nervous when we left the dealership as I have never driven on the left side of the road. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and so far, no issues. The driving compared to USA standards would best be described as crazy, but luckily, I previously lived in Naples Italy and in my opinion the Thai's are amateurs at crazy driving compared to the Neapolitans.
16 November 2019 we moved into the house we rented. Our realtor Keith had taken us around looking at some beautiful homes and we finally settled on this meager five-bedroom, five baths with a swimming pool and maid quarters.
Oh, I forgot to mention the pool upkeep and landscaping is included. Keith is happy he doesn't have to take our 4 Tasmanian devil children to look at houses anymore. The kids love the pool slide, Christina loves the walk-in closet that is bigger than the kid's bedrooms in our Guam house. I enjoy sitting pool side, listing to the water and enjoying all the birds chirping. Guam doesn't have many birds due to the invasive brown tree snake and I missed the sounds of birds singing. Keith also took Richard around, but he ended up going with condo found via some friends at the VFW. He rented a two-bedroom condo in Central Pattaya, it is in a great location surrounded by shops and eateries. Everything in the condo is new or almost new, the owner completely gutted the unit and redid it top to bottom. It is a corner unit making for great breezes and has two balconies perfect to relax on and people watch.
Since moving into the house, we have been doing lots of shopping trying to get the house the way we want it. The house came furnished with furniture but that was about it. So, we have been out finding stores and for the various things one needs when moving into a new home. We purchased a washing machine to wash our socks, underwear and towels. The washing machine looks a little different, it an inexpensive model with washing on one side and a spinner on the other. The rest of the laundry is being done by Siam Laundry; a local laundry shop owned by a Thai/American couple. Roughly every three days we call to have the laundry picked up/dropped off. This is one of the advantages of living here, low cost services, so we can afford to send out our laundry and hire a housekeeper, which we are still searching for. Pretty sure we will find one soon.
Since moving into the house, we have been doing lots of shopping trying to get the house the way we want it. The house came furnished with furniture but that was about it. So, we have been out finding stores and for the various things one needs when moving into a new home. We purchased a washing machine to wash our socks, underwear and towels. The washing machine looks a little different, it an inexpensive model with washing on one side and a spinner on the other. The rest of the laundry is being done by Siam Laundry; a local laundry shop owned by a Thai/American couple. Roughly every three days we call to have the laundry picked up/dropped off. This is one of the advantages of living here, low cost services, so we can afford to send out our laundry and hire a housekeeper, which we are still searching for. Pretty sure we will find one soon.
We can also afford to have prepared meals delivered by one of two popular meal services, Grab Food or Food Panda. We hired a teacher to come to the house three times a week to provided Thai language lessons. She works during the day as a primary school teacher at one of the top international schools. So far, we have had four lessons and are enjoying being able to greet people, say, thank you, ask for directions, and find out where the toilet is. We really look forward to our language lessons every week.
Also, since our last post Christina and Richard attended a local driving school to get their motorbike license. There is a lot to write about their adventure so we will make that the next post.
Until next time, thank you for being a loyal reader and hopefully I will get another post out in a few days, instead of weeks, now that we are mostly settled.
Until next time, thank you for being a loyal reader and hopefully I will get another post out in a few days, instead of weeks, now that we are mostly settled.
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